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Iman Shares Secrets to Her Marriage to the Late David Bowie on 'Oprah: Where Are They Now?'

By Raphael Chestang 6:58 PM PDT, April 20, 2016

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Before her husband David Bowie died in January, Iman taped an interview for Oprah: Where Are They Now? in which she opened up about her 24-year marriage.

"We both understand the difference between the person and the persona," Iman says in a clip, explaining how they kept their private relationship separate from what they presented to the world. "When we are home we are just Iman and David. We're not anybody else."

Bowie and Iman's romance was legendary. In 2000, Bowie admitted to HELLO! magazine that for him it was love at first sight when he met the supermodel at a dinner party in 1990 just after she had retired.

For Iman, the bond was forged a little later. She told The Cut in 2011 that she decided David was the one about two after she began dating him.

"I was coming from Paris and I got to L.A. at the airport," she told The Cut. "The doors open to the plane and I come out and I see all these people taking a picture of somebody... He was standing there, flowers in hand, no security. That was when I knew he was a keeper."

In talking to Oprah: Where Are They Now?, Iman dished on one of the key proponents to a successful marriage.

"I think the secret to a lasting marriage is timing," Iman says. "It has to be the right time in your life when you're ready for an everlasting relationship and that becomes a priority in your life."

In the clip, Iman explains that while her opinions are needed for her IMAN cosmetics product line during the day, she makes sure to leave by 3 p.m. to become a "total wife" and mom to 15-year-old daughter Alexandria Zahra Jones.

"If your career is important to you, don't get married and have children," Iman said. "I know we as women want to be able to have it all, but we can't have it all at the same time."